In the early 100s BC, Rome went to war with the North African kingdom of Numidia, where they had a really difficult time due to guerilla tactics and corrupt generals. It took six long, painful years before the leader of the Numidians was captured and they placed a puppet king in charge.

During the nadir of the Iraq War in about 2006, I kept on hearing people say the US' military was weak. No, it's not. It just isn't as good at fighting guerillas, which is a completely different type of fight than two armies clashing on the battlefield. Because if that's the case, then the Roman military was weak back in 100 BC, when Julius Caesar was still a six-year-old, before Augustus was even alive, and before Rome was even an empire. Yeah, we need to get our shit together with guerilla tactics. It fucked us over in Iraq, just like it did in Vietnam and the Philippines. But we're still some of the fucking best if you have two nations battling it out. Remember that "shock and awe" part of the Iraq War? If you didn't, I forgive you because it was so damned fast. We completely annihilated the Iraqi army. They didn't stand a chance. If our military was weak, they would've had one.